CEDAR CITY, Utah, Dec. 17 ? Southern Utah, playing without its starting point guard and his primary backup, gave Utah State a scare Wednesday night but there were no last-minute miracles for the Thunderbirds, who came close but wound up on the wrong end of a 72-65 decision in the Centrum.
With guard Mike Josserand and forward Byron Byrd serving one-game suspensions ? and guard Cory Davis in uniform but available only if absolutely necessary after the trio broke an unspecified team rule earlier in the week ?the odds were long for the Thunderbirds.
The odds became even longer as leading scorer Davis Baker was held to just five points on 2-of-12 shooting.
The game was close in the first half but the Aggies slowly pulled out to a 12 point advantage at halftime. Southern Utah scored the first five points of the second period, however, and although Utah State built a 49-36 lead on a Jared Quayle layup with 16:00 to go, the Thunderbirds chipped away, eventually pulling to within 67-65 on two Dave Marek free throws with 18 seconds to play.
The Thunderbirds immediately fouled Jaxson Myaer, who hit two free throws of his own to give the Aggies a four-point cusion, and after Drew Allen's 3-pointer from the left wing was long Quayle grabbed the rebound and was fouled by John Clifford with eight seconds to go.
Quayle left the door slightly ajar when he hit just one of his two free throws, but Marek mis-handled the ball on Southern Utah's ensuing possession, Allen fouled Quayle, and the junior from Perry, Utah, hit both charity tosses this time to send the Thunderbirds to the loss.
“I'm really proud of the effort our team gave out there tonight,” SUU Coach Roger Reid said. “We battled them all night. We got down but we were never out of it and going down the stretch we had a chance to win it.
“They did a great job on us defensively in the first half [when the Thunderbirds hit just 8-of-26 shots] but we came out in the second half and played a much better game, on both ends of the court,” Reid added.
“We've struggled at the beginning of the second half at times this season but tonight we were a little more focused and we did a better job getting a good start,” SUU forward Tyler Quinney said. “We got it going in the second half and got back into it but they hit their free throws when they needed to and hit some big shots when they needed them.”
Utah State, which had been out-rebounding opponents by over 12 per game, held just a 27-to-25 edge on the glass against the Thunderbirds, and both teams committed just 10 turnovers.
Although Baker finished with his lowest point total since scoring four in the opener, he did dish out a game-high five assists ? a personal best ? while Marek scored a season-high 21 points to lead the Thunderbirds. Quinney added 20 points and seven rebounds, while John Clifford scored 14 with seven boards. Marek and Quinney played all 40 minutes while Baker played 36 and Clifford logged 34.
Quayle hit 8-of-9 shots (his only miss was a 3-pointer) and 6-of-8 free throws to lead all scorers with 23 points while Gary Wilkinson added 17 points and six rebounds for the Aggies. Stavon Williams came off the bench to score 15 for USU.
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